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WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (UPI) The Internet cooled off last year with the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Now, in the name of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) many are heating up by chowing down on hot peppers and chugging Tabasco sauce. The "Feel The Bern Challenge" asks Sanders supporters to make videos of themselves eating jalapeños, taking shots of hot sauce, or otherwise working up a sweat and then battle through the burn to explain why they support the Socialist senator from Vermont in his run for the Democratic nomination for president.

WASHINGTON - U.S. health officials urged consumers on Friday to avoid only raw jalapeno peppers from Mexico, narrowing an earlier warning against eating any fresh jalapenos amid an outbreak of salmonella illness. The Food and Drug Administration now believes jalapeno and serrano peppers grown in the United States are not connected to the outbreak that has sickened more than 1,200 people, Dr. David Acheson, FDA associate commissioner for foods, told Reuters in an interview. Investigators seeking the source of the outbreak have been probing clusters of illnesses in various locations.

McALLEN - The strain of salmonella that sickened people across the country was detected in jalapeños distributed by a Rio Grande Valley company, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported Monday. Peppers from Agricola Zaragoza carried the saintpaul strain of salmonella. This is the first time the agency found the strain in food since the outbreak was announced in June. The FDA has not determined how or where the peppers were contaminated, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. It has been testing produce from distributors all over the country. Agricola Zaragoza is recalling jalapeños it has shipped...

Tomatoes are OK, but watch out for jalapenos, avocados and serrano peppers. That’s what state and federal health departments are saying now after months of searching for the source of a nationwide salmonella outbreak. Originally thought to be traced to tomatoes, now, after Texas and North Carolina’s departments of state health services located tainted produce from a south Texas importer/distributor, officials are telling people to be wary of other produce often used in Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine. The importer, Grande Produce, is conducting a voluntary recall of all peppers and avocados it distributed. Confusion among what to eat and what...

Burning Cow Dung Starts Colorado Wildfire 27 minutes ago Strange News - AP LONGMONT, Colo. - Authorities are investigating whether Forest Service workers can be charged with arson for a 900-acre wildfire that was ignited after gusty winds carried flaming cow dung outside a controlled burn site. Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck said he received several complaints from farmers and ranchers in the Pawnee National Grassland area, where the Forest Service was conducting a controlled burn of prairie weeds March 11. Callers complained the fire shouldn't have been set because of high winds, and that the fire endangered farm...

It's 2, maybe 3 a.m. and I'm in the passenger seat of Sam Lewis' old brown van as we hurtle toward Terlingua. We wander across the center stripe and back and back again - Sam's not near as worried about it as I am. Sensing my discomfort, Sam says, ''Oh, I just kind of aim this thing down the road.'' And he does, not steering as much as giving the steering wheel a slap every now and then when we appear to be on the verge of disaster. I'm reassured by the thought that Sam might have a few armadillos...